Travel

As always, flying is far more glamorous to those who don't do much of it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not some high flying exec, who boards a plane for some far flung destination every second week, but when you live on the arse end of the world, flying and particularly, flying for a really long time is part and parcel of climbing at awesome venues around the world. So, it was with the usual trepidation that I boarded my longhaul flight to Milan, praying that there would be some good films and some extra space. I was awarded on my second leg with a full row to myself. Nothing to it really, two valium, an eye mask, ear plugs and whammo, I was in Milan…

After my "super-close-no-send" of the highlander-project in mid july I was off to Indo for some surfing and it was a great time. Life was very simple: surf, eat, sleep - nothing more, nothing less. It was good for my body to let my knee and hamstring heal and good for my mind as well!

During these months I was able to travel a lot with my friends and with my family. In particular in August I spent ten days in Briançon, because my brother Marco and I prefered to check new climbing cliffs instead of going as usual to Ceuse. We pratically climbed in three beautiful crags:
-Face Bouc-La Saume-Rue des masquesFace Bouc is situated in Ailefroide Valley, a great steep granite wall with fantastic routes. In one day I managed to climb three different lines here, I was very amused! The easy routes to the very left of the crag were all in the sun so I decided to warm up on Cambonne Beurre 7a+ but when I arrived at the anchor I realised that this was wrong way to start the day because I felt quite pumpy and "locked" but after a great rest I felt OK.
The second route was Fiaschi Natique 7c+ just on the left of CambonneRead More...

As I promised in the last blog - I took my first longer out of climbing period since 1996.. Didn't climb for more than 2 months but there was a lot going on so I didn't feel like it was proper rest. Still not sure is it because I became father recently (!!!) or maybe I just don't know how to rest.

In the meantime I accepted invitation to become the chief coach of the Croatia youth sport climbing team. It will be hard to find free time for all the work I have to do on this position (specially because I allready work full time on another place) but since for many years in a row nobody have the idea what to do with all those talented Croatian kids, I decided to give a try. Hope we can make some progress in the next 4 years and steer all those young guns in the right direction.

Allready on my first climbing days after rest I felt that conditions are getting worse. Summer was justRead More...

I'm having a great time here in Boulder. In a week I've spent here I got over the jet lag, got used to the altitude and did some classic problems in RMNP and Mt. Evans. When you start hiking up to the boulders you can’t know what’s gonna happen that day. Is it gonna be a fresh sunny day or are we gonna get rained out? The weather is so unpredictable. You just have to go and see what happens.

Yesterday I had a good day. We went to Emerald Lake and I did Tommy's other arete, a cool V9. I was so tired from the day before when we hiked down from Mt. Evans in the rain and came to the car completely soaked. So the next day in RMNP didRead More...

Magic Wood, one of my favorite places in the world. Good bouldering and the most stunning forest you'll ever see in your life. I had mixed goals in Magic, on the one hand I wanted to do some eight degree boulders, but on the other hand I wanted to push my level a bit and work in New Base Line (8b+). Working in an 8b+ and try to send multiple 8's isn't an option in just one week. I've discovered that I have a hard time projecting a boulder over multiple days if the time is limited. If I have for example a month and there is now time pressure I have no problems with longer projects, but if I am on a short trip the urge to have some quick successes usually has the upper hand.
Besides this urge to have some quick sends, it was warm in the forest. Not just a bit warmer than usual but more like boiling hot. On the other hand it only rained a few times in the evening. So we were lucky with the weather, it was just impossible for me to try New Base Line. Instead I did some other vRead More...

In my latest months I spendmy “Climbing time” in Gressoney Valley, in a cliff called La Benedizionethat isIn my opinion the best crag in Aosta Valley. All the routes are completely natural, crazy rock and it is situated in a special place, near a big waterfalland mountain meadows

My project this year was Devils and Dust 8a+ that as the most lines here is downgraded so I spend 4 days of hard work to get the chain. The First day I tried the whole line to figure out the right beta but I felt the two cruxes really hard and I seemed to have no chance. The route was such impressive so I was looking forward to try it again.

The days after I managed to link the two cruxes and to have good attempts aRead More...